A Pointed Point of View

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Foursquare Rant

I love checking in. L-O-V-E it. I check in more than all of my friends combined. This is why i’m so troubled by Swarm and Foursquare. I understand that Foursquare felt it needed to differentiate itself from Facebook check ins when that was introduced. I felt very meh about it trying to introduce suggestions. It didn’t overwhelm the app and overall it didn’t do suggestions very well. I did love how It integrated with Facebook check ins. That, along with the badges is why I stuck around.

When Swarm came out I downloaded it, just to see what the deal was and was bothered by the inevitability of foursquare moving the check in out of the foursquare app. The additional graphic you can add to your avatar with each check in was cool. I liked how it showed you how far your friends were from you when they last checked in. Along with the Making Plans feature are nice. But this is all things they could have done in the foursquare app. It appears the Badges and Mayor-ships will be put out to pasture. The integration of Facebook check ins are clunky in Swarm. The check in experience was just a disappointment overall.

So, now it’s officially started. When you attempt to check-in on Foursquare it opens Swarm. Foursquare posted a news release ( http://bit.ly/1pufpz7 ) basically saying Foursquare will be focusing on “Finding Places you Love”. Looks like I’ll probably just abandon Swarm and start checking-in directly on Facebook.